Anita is Director of International Programs at the Institute for Women’s Health. Prior to working for IWH, she worked for the Department of Homeland Security. Before that, she was a media analyst for the EU Commissioner of Digital Agenda and concurrently a guest analyst on VOA’s Straight Talk Africa TV program. Recently, she was nominee for State Senate running to represent Maryland’s 19th legislative district. Anita was appointed by Montgomery County Council to serve her community as commissioner on the county’s Charter Review Commission and she chairs the City of Gaithersburg’s Multicultural Affairs Committee.

She began her career working for the U.S. State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Argentina, and worked at U.S. embassies in Sierra Leone, Egypt, The Bahamas, and India, including short assignments to Morocco and Ivory Coast. Returning to the U.S. in 2004, Anita took time out to raise her children during which time she founded a non-profit dedicated to cross-cultural connections, supporting impoverished schools and lifting rural women out of poverty through microfinance in Africa.

A native of Uganda, Anita is a graduate of University College of Wales, U.K. and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. She has trained at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in immigration law. She is a recipient of Embassy Cairo’s Superior Honor Award in recognition of her work heading the embassy’s VIP office in addition to three Meritorious Honor Awards. She speaks several languages.

Lori Kuykendall, M.P.H., is President of Beacon Health Education Resources. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Education from Texas A&M University and a Masters of Public Health in Health Promotion from Liberty University. She started in prevention education at the Women’s Pregnancy Center in Houston, Texas in 1995. In 1998, she started a county-wide abstinence education program that was among the first to receive Title V Federal Abstinence Education funding. Later, she was the Executive Director of Lifetalk (Pregnancy) Resource Center in Frisco, Texas. She has worked with Aim for Success, now merged with Youth Equipped to Succeed, positive youth development organizations and also Medical Institute for Sexual Health.
She led community health education efforts in Romania and Guatemala.
From 2018 through 2021, Lori led the team which developed “K-12 Standards for Optimal Sexual Development” (www.newsexedstandards.org), an international resource for guiding policy and curriculum for optimal sexual health. Lori’s professional priority is to advance physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health.

Esther Spear is a Domestic Policy Advisor at the Institute for Women’s Health. Prior to joining IWH, she worked in policy for over four years for the senior senator from her home state of Oklahoma. While working on Capitol Hill, she primarily focused on domestic issues, including healthcare, women’s issues and appropriations. Esther holds a B.A. in International Business from John Brown University and currently resides in Northern Virginia with her husband.

Michelle recently joined the Institute of Women’s Health as an international Policy Advisor and the Director of Development. Prior to joining IWH, Michelle worked in the Executive Branch of the Office of Management and Budget and at the Veteran’s Health Administration. She also was the Director of Religious Education, for the Archdiocese of Washington and served as a Salesian Lay Missionary in Okinawa, Bolivia. Michelle completed her BA in Art History for the University of Dallas and her Masters in Theology, Biotechnology and Ethics at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. The California native now calls Arlington, Virginia home with her husband.

Joy Ruiz is an MSN Clinical Nurse Leader Candidate at Georgetown University with an interest in pediatrics and women's health nursing. Prior to pursuing her MSN at Georgetown, she worked in the White House Medical Unit and in the White House Office of Public Liaison where she learned she had a passion for both government and nursing. Joy is originally from Bolivia and grew up in Northern Virginia. Currently she resides in Washington, D.C.

Leanne is a Domestic Policy and Development Fellow at IWH. She has worked as the Director of Development at a pregnancy center and previously served as a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.

Leanne holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Brinley Koenig is a junior at Brigham Young University studying Political Science with an emphasis in Political Strategy and a minor in Business. She has participated in the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders internship program in D.C. and has served as a public policy intern for the Sutherland Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. During this time, she became passionate about using her strengths in writing, design, and communication to help further the conservative movement. She is particularly interested in women's health and religious freedom issues and is very excited to work with the Institute for Women's Health this year. Outside of work and school, she enjoys listening to podcasts, playing board games with her family, and running.

Ava Swanson is a junior at Harvard concentrating in Government. Ava enjoys studying political philosophy and helps lead Christian and conservative groups on campus. She is Co-President of Harvard Right to Life, Vice President of the Network of Enlightened Women, and Co-Vice President of Harvard College Faith and Action. Ava interned with the DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., as well as in the State Legislative Center at National Right to Life in Alexandria, Virginia. Ava is currently serving as a board member for Massachusetts Citizens for Life.