Nichole Aldrich is a former journalist and certified public accountant. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston College. Nichole was a TV news reporter for several cities in the Northeast including Boston. Before pursuing a career in journalism, she was a CPA with Ernst & Young.

Nichole is the mother of three children and serves on their school’s two boards, is a member of her church’s Stewardship Council and volunteers for several non-profit organizations. She joined Beth Simonton in founding ICU baby after the loss of her second baby. Because of her traumatic experience in the NICU, she wants to help other families navigate their journeys in the hospital. Specifically, Nichole wants to enable families to overcome any hurdles in visiting their babies and to make those visits more meaningful.

Read about Nichole’s personal NICU experience here.

Elizabeth Simonton is an attorney that practiced law in South Florida prior to starting a family of her own. The wellbeing of a family experiencing a hardship has always been important to Elizabeth, but became more so after she had a NICU journey with her third child and saw other families’ NICU struggles.

Elizabeth founded the NICU Families Fund in 2014 with the goal of raising funds to make families’ time in local NICUs more comfortable. She then partnered with Nichole Aldrich and created ICU baby to carry out the NICU Families Fund mission on a broader scope.  In 2016, Elizabeth sold a start-up rental company she founded and ran for six years. She has since focused her efforts on the support of NICU families through ICU baby. Elizabeth received her B.S. from Furman University with a double major in psychology and political science and graduated Cum Laude from the University of Richmond Law School in 2005.

Read about Elizabeth’s personal NICU experience here.

Vanesa Salvo graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in Management and Sociology.  She then earned her Master’s of Public Administration from Florida International University.

Having grown up in Nicaragua, the poorest country in Central America, Vanesa always felt compelled to help those in need.  She was involved in community service growing up and has dedicated her career to the non-profit sector.  Before joining ICU baby as Volunteer Coordinator, Vanesa worked at Hands On Miami as their Youth Program Manager.  She helped engage young men and women to serve in community organizations throughout Miami-Dade and organized large-scale Annual Days of Service projects where hundreds of volunteers participated.

Vanesa took some time away from the workforce to care for her two young children.  During that time, she pursued personal projects and moved abroad.  Back in Florida with school-aged children, Vanesa joined ICU baby to follow her passion for helping others through volunteerism.  Now a mother, it means even more to be with an organization helping families with sick babies.

Leah Jayanetti graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of South Carolina with a B.S. in Exercise Science. There, she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Carolina Classic football recruiting hostess.

Leah continued her education at Duke University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. She went on to practice pediatric physical therapy with a focus on early intervention. She has lectured to universities and hospitals on the importance of the appropriate NICU environment for developing babies. Leah has three young children and her journey as a mother coupled with her professional experience drives her to seek the best care for premature babies and their families.

Karina Kalb grew up in Miami and earned her bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Miami.  She worked in Human Resources before starting a family.  She has spent the past 20 years volunteering for various organizations, including the Miami City Ballet, the American School in London, St. John’s Hospice London, and Catholic Charities of New York.

With Karina’s daughters now in university, she is delighted to dedicate time to ICU baby and the NICU families she meets.  As Director of Transportation at Holtz Children’s Hospital, Karina works to ensure that every family has the transportation they need in order to spend as much time as they can with their sick baby.  Karina is also an ICU Read volunteer in the hospital.  Reading to the sick babies in the NICU is her favorite part of volunteering with ICU baby.

Jairo Gonzalez is the Founding Partner of the award winning Zerofractal design group headquartered in Miami. He has led his team for over 17 years in 2,273 domestic and international projects. His clients include Netflix, Disney, Apple, HBO, FIFA and other worldwide brands.

Jairo partnered with ICU baby in 2016 to develop and maintain the organization’s message to the community about the work being done. Jairo and his team have since been behind every video, campaign, newsletter, mailing and materials developed for ICU baby’s projects. Jairo has two children and is grateful for their health.

Rosy Andrews graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and a minor in Marketing.  She worked at CNN en Espanol as a Public Relations and Social Media Consultant.  She then when in to to become the Vice President of Hilo People Inc., a Public Relations and Social Media Consultanting Firm.

Rosy is currently obtaining a double major major in Psychology and Social Work at Florida International University.  She has 15 years of volunteer service with organizations like the Boys and Gifts Club, Ronald McDonald House and Amigos Near.org.  She volunteers with ICU baby because she is a parent, loves children and wants to do anything she can to help them and their families. A close friend of hers had a son who was in South Miami Hospital’s NICU and she introduced Rosy to ICU baby.