Hopestar: Looking ahead. Read more
TRUSTEES
Elizabeth Star
Liz is the Founder and President of the HopeStar Foundation. Liz has a history and passion for connecting, convening, and catalyzing action with the vision of fostering intergenerational health and mobility in the Carolinas. She collaborates to advance upstream and strategic programs and initiatives that focus on the whole child and combine health and education, primarily during prenatal to age three. Liz serves on the Boards of NC Smart Start and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Foundation and Advisory Boards for the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. She also serves on the NC State Board for Nurse Family Partnership home visiting program.
Julia Winer
Julia graduated from Elon University with a degree in Public Health in May 2020. Shortly after, at the height of the pandemic, Julia started her Master’s degree in Public Health at NYU's School of Global Public Health. She moved to Manhattan in April 2021 to finish her program in person. Currently, Julia is the Development Operations Associate at the Familial Dysautonomia (FD) Foundation in NYC.
Benjamin Winer
Benjamin Winer is a passionate advocate for sustainable farming in the US and Israel.
STAFF
Joanna Dilmaghani
Joanna graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Communication and Business Administration. She relocated to Charlotte, NC in 2021 with her husband and son for more sunshine and less snow. Joanna has ten years of event hospitality experience, eight years of administrative experience and a passion for relationship building. She joined the team in January 2024 eager to learn and grow in this community.
ADVISORY BOARD
Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, PhD, MSW, K. B. Reynolds Charitable Trust
Susan Gale Perry, North Carolina DHHS
Dan Gerlach, Dan Gerlach, LLC.
Carmen Hooker-Odom, Former Secretary of North Carolina DHHS
Sara Horstmann, MD, Atrium Health
Brandon Lofton, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A.
Easter Maynard, Investors Management Corporation / ChildTrust Foundation
Dr. Marcus Plescia, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Jake Sussman, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Amelia Thorn, JD, Senior Lecturing Fellow, Duke University School of Law; Senior Assistant Director, Bolch Judicial Institute
Judge Elizabeth T. Trosch, North Carolina Judicial District 26
Stacy Warren, The Duke Endowment
Mary Louise Cohen, Phillips & Cohen LLP
Gibbie Harris, Former Public Health Director of Mecklenburg County
Jen Zuckerman, Principal, Zuckerman Consulting LLC