Lindsay Nelson is currently the Community Health Systems Coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Health where her work focuses on aligning health care organizations with community-based resources and programs. She has almost 10 years of experience working in public health and has worked across multiple sectors. In her past roles she worked for Scott County Public Health coordinating the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) grant, supported youth suicide prevention efforts at Canvas Health and was a Health Educator at the Lake Superior Community Health Center in Duluth, MN. She has her Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES®) and a passion for bridging gaps around access to health education and ensuring community voices are at the forefront of our work. In her free time, she stays busy chasing around her almost 2-year-old daughter and 2 dogs. She loves all things related to sports, especially football, and enjoys spending time with friends and family!

Liz is a native to southern Minnesota. She went to Minnesota State University, Mankato to receive her Bachelor of Science in community health education. With encouragement from her advisors and family, she continued her education in community health education to receive her Master of Science degree. Currently, Liz is a Grant Coordinator for Healthy Families America in a nine-county region in southern Minnesota. She previously served at the American Lung Association as a Specialist in Public Policy and Advocacy and as a Community Health Specialist at the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership. Liz has been a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) since 2015 and has a passion for continuing her education to eliminate disparities and improve community health. Although recently elected as the MN SOPHE Past-President, Liz is not new to MN SOPHE. From 2017-2020, Liz served as the MN SOPHE Membership Chair and from 2021-2022, she served as the Awards Chair, and 2022-2024 served in President positions.

Chelsey Skogen, an alumni from Minnesota State University – Mankato has been a part of MN SOPHE since she was a student. While a student, is where she found her passion in public health engaging in tobacco control work on the Mavericks for Clean Air coalition that worked to update the campus’s commercial tobacco policy. Since starting her current position with the American Lung Association, she has worked on addressing commercial tobacco use among those with mental health and substance use disorders across the state of Minnesota. In her free time, she enjoys spending time at the lake and outdoors with her chocolate lab puppy!

Molly Schmidtke is a Community Outreach Coordinator with the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota. Molly's career is focused on commercial tobacco prevention education, advocacy and engagement. She has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in Community Health Education and a Master's in Public Health Administration and Policy from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Molly is also a Certified Health Education Specialist. In her free time, she likes to spend her time traveling with her husband and watching the Minnesota Wild.

Katie Stapleton graduated from Minnesota State University Mankato with a BS in business and worked in corporate management for 8 years. She’s been a certified yoga and exercise instructor since 2019 and loves motivating and connecting with people and helping to improve health initiatives. She is currently a Graduate student at MSU pursing her passion for public health with a Masters in Community Health Education. She spends her free time with her dogs and cat, painting, and cheering on the Vikings.

Jean Streetar is retired from Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment where she worked as a health educator and public health program manager for 19.5 years. She holds an undergraduate degree from Minnesota State University-Mankato (MSU-M) in Physical Education, Art, and Health Education along with a Coaching Certificate. Her graduate degree in Community Health is also from MSU-M. Ms. Streetar followed her first career path teaching and coaching in Faribault, Nicollet, and Mankato, MN. She then earned a graduate degree and pursued a chemical dependency counseling certificate. This led to opportunities at MSU-M, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato, Todd County Public Health, St. Cloud-Catholic Charities and finally Washington County. She has been a Certified Health Education Specialist since 2003; a member of the MN Public Health Association Policy Forum Committee since 2013; board secretary for MN Society of Public Health Education since 2019 and recently was accepted as a Hennepin Co. Medical Reserve Corp volunteer.

Dr. Wendy Schuh is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Health Science at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She also has extensive experience in the health field! For the past two decades, Wendy served as a Health Educator and then as the Director of Student Health Services at MSU, Mankato. Prior to that, she worked as an educator for the American Red Cross and a local public health agency in Iowa. She has had the opportunity to serve on the North Central College Health Association Executive Board in a variety of roles, including President, and as a representative with the American College Health Association. While Wendy has attended SOPHE conferences and trainings before, she looks forward to becoming more involved at the organizational level.

Taylour Blakeman (she/her) is a regional SHIP coordinator in Northeast Minnesota for Healthy Northland based out of the Cook, Carlton, St. Louis, Lake Community Health Board. Taylour is passionate about preventing substance use, especially among young people. Her experience primarily revolves around advocating to local and state decision makers on policies that prevent commercial tobacco use among youth, and underserved populations. In her spare time, you can find her on the trails of the beautiful North Shore with her Blue Heeler, Michelangelo. Taylour's motto is that through connectedness and collaboration, everyone can achieve more in the pursuit of broad health impact.